Man on lam from Arizona prison since 1987 caught

Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

The man living in the 1500 block of East Fremont Street was known as "Sergeant Major," but Metro Police knew him as Mark Randall Mayo, a convicted felon.

Mayo was listed on Arizona's "most wanted" list after he escaped a Florence, Ariz., prison as guards fired at him in October 1987. A prison trustee helped with his escape. He had been serving 45 years for armed robbery and kidnapping.

Mayo was never found after he escaped from prison until Thursday -- or at least that is what was believed.

He had moved to Las Vegas after his escape and assumed the identity of his brother, Ronald Leon Mayo, a decorated Army veteran living in Henderson, police said.

Under his brother's name, Mark Mayo committed a robbery in 1995 in Henderson. He was captured and given five years' probation.

He admitted his true identity to detectives who arrested him Thursday.

Metro detectives captured him as he smoked a cigarette in front of his Fremont Street room. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

Detectives found an Army dress green uniform jacket with the rank of sergeant major, the highest enlisted rank, and several medals hanging inside his apartment, police said.

Metro Police Lt. Jim Moses credited the Social Security Administration's office of inspector general for assisting police in uncovering Mayo's true identity and the fact that he had escaped prison in Arizona.

Moses said Mayo faces a prison term of 40 years plus additional time for the escape in 1987.

He is awaiting extradition.

The 57-year-old Mayo was convicted of a robbery on Dec. 15, 1974, committed in the Tucson area. He had served five years of a 45-year sentence, according to Arizona law enforcement records.